Age of Dinosaurs

• The Age of Dinosaurs corresponds to the time that geologists call the Mesozoic Era, from about 248-65 million years ago (mya).

• The Mesozoic Era is divided into three shorter time spans: -- the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods.

• In the Triassic Period, 248-208 mya, the dinosaurs began to evolve.

• During the Jurassic Period --about 208-144 mya--the dinosaurs reached their greatest size.

• The Cretaceous Period is when dinosaurs were at their most varied--about 144-65 mya.

• In the Triassic Period, all the continents were joined in one supercontinent--Pangaea.

• In the Jurassic Period, the supercontinent of Pangaea separated into two huge land-masses--Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south.

• In the Cretaceous Period, Laurasia and Gondwana split, and the continents as we know them began to form.

• In the Mesozoic Era, the major land-masses gradually moved across the globe in a process known as "continental drift."

• The joining and separating of the continents affected which kinds of dinosaurs lived where.

By: Parker, Steve, Dinosaurs